I lost my sense of smell four years ago. The doctors told me that it is natural and that it is not a sickness

case 0718

For the last few years I have had varying smells: smoky, dusty, rotten, astringent... These smells seem to come out of nowhere. At the beginning it was only at night, then they would come in the car, not often at work.

case 0719

For two years I have not been able to tell the difference between smells. People say that I smell funny and I don't smell anything. When I cook I don't smell anything. Some things, like fresh fruit, I can smell but not many other things.

case 0720

About ten years ago I noticed that I could not taste what I was eating. Now that I was aware of this I missed all the flavors and scents that I used to enjoy. I went to a neurologist, an ear nose and throat specialist and a general practitioner. I was told that sometimes the sense of smell just wears out and sometimes it comes back on its own.

case 0721

For the last 13 years I experience a sweet sickly smell everywhere I go. I sometimes go for 18 months without the symptoms and then it returns out of the blue. I had liver failure 16 years ago and I never got this smell before then and therefore wonder if this has anything to do with it. It smells like one of those plug-in air fresheners and can last for up to two weeks before it disappears. I haven't told my doctor because how do I explain a funny smell in my nostrils?

case 0722

It started with a sore throat and ended up with a common cold. On the third day I began smelling a sweet perfume that no one else could detect. It was constant. I could still smell other odors, but the perfume was always there, too. My sense of taste was still okay. It is now day five and the perfume is still there. At this point I don't know how long this will last, but I am concerned because about eight years ago, I had the flu. At that time, I had a severe sore throat that ended with me losing my sense of smell for over a year. Going hand in hand with this, I also lost my sense of taste, except for sweet, salty and spicy tastes. While I had the sore throat, I smelled rubbing alcohol very strongly, though there was no rubbing alcohol present. This lasted for a couple of days and when that smell left, I lost all sense of smell completely. Gradually, after a year, it did return, however never as strongly as before. Now I am worried that the same scenario will happen again.

case 0723

I can't recall ever really having a sense of smell... at least, not at the same level or intensity as those around me. I feel that my sense of smell has always been similar to the situation of a blind person that can recognize silhouettes — while I can occasionally detect a smell/odor, I can't identify what it is. By this, I mean that occasionally I might walk past a bakery and detect a smell, but I can't tell if it's bread or meat pies cooking. I have rarely smelled human odors. I've heard others around me complaining about a person that smells of body odor or garlic breath... it's all news to me! I can smell strong perfumes but I would never be able to identify the brand... not a clue about that... they are all the same to me. Most foods have no discernible flavors — roast beef and roast lamb are all the same to me. My food tastes are usually related to texture, and sweetness, sourness or saltiness. I certainly can't detect if a particular dish contains, for instance, ginger, or cinnamon, or cumin, etc. I tend to like foods with very strong flavors and very noticeable textures — smooth, crunchy, crispy etc. I've never had this condition diagnosed, or even consulted a doctor about it. I've just accepted it, and sometimes consider it advantageous. After all, I'm not burdened by intense, overwhelming bad smells. I've always thought that my anosmia was related to my deviated septum, though I'm happy to acknowledge that this could well be wrong.

case 0724

I always had a better sense of smell than other people. I am sensitive to odors. I could smell food burning before other people in the house who were closer to the kitchen, and I always was sensitive to the smell of some objects: clean sheets, bleach, and I could tell if the food was salty just by the smell. After I turned 50 I became even more sensitive to smells, and being more and more able to identify odors that other people could not even smell, and now it has become definitely unique: I enter a building and I smell what someone is cooking; then I concentrate on the smell and I can tell it is banana bread, or meat stew... while others can smell nothing at all. I can distinguish the smell of pee, fruits, vegetables, sugary foods, sweat, wet earth, rotting vegetables, etc. at a certain distance, such as being in another room...

case 0725

I was diagnosed with essential tremor and with it I gradually noticed a loss of sense of smell. I have been trying acupuncture as an alternative therapy. The effects of acupuncture are not long lasting but it was a revelation to me as I would be able to smell things for a couple of days after the treatment. I no longer get acupuncture. I just shake. Every once in a while for no apparent reason I can smell for a short time. I am really interested in this as it is so odd that I can smell once in a while. Does this mean my nerves aren't damaged?

case 0726

I have had chronic sinusitis for the past year and intermittent sinusitis for many years. Recently I noticed that I am unable to smell odors like cow dung or dead mice or accurately smell wine. I have a mucus problem and a metallic taste in my mouth occasionally.

case 0727

I lost my sense of smell ten years ago when I was accidentally hit in the face with a bat.

case 0728

While camping a coyote sprayed/marked our large tent during the night. The smell was so intense that it woke us all up from a dead sleep and caused us to vacate the site and head home for the rest of the night. To me the smell could best be described as rotten onions and caused my eyes to burn and me to sputter/cough. The rest of my family seemed to have similar reactions; however I found that my sense of smell was altered. For years after the incident I could either not smell unpleasant odors or registered them as something else completely (the same odor could smell like something different each time I came across it). For example, skunk would smell fruity/flowery one day, then like burning tires the next. (In middle/high school you can imagine what people thought when I commented on the "pleasant" smell during a bus ride home). For the past six years or so, the smell of skunk has kind of settled on a musky/tire-like odor, and only occasionally can I detect rotten food. Typically, I find that rotten food has little-to-no smell, however there are random instances when it seems to have a normal rotten odor. Pleasant odors seem to have been unaffected, with the exception of roses whose smell has become more pungent.